Anyone planning to read "State of Fear" by Michael Crichton?

Sounds like a right old wingnut book by the sounds of this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4319574.stm

Do you ever read that line on an early page of a novel: "Any connection between the characters and events herein portrayed, and real people, is purely coincidental."

In Michael Crichton's State of Fear, I'd say the connection was purely intentional. It's about the kind of hurricanes, floods, tsunamis and tornadoes we've been experiencing. Crichton's trade is to bring pleasurable terror to millions by spinning tales of science gone amok - as in Jurassic Park and the Andromeda Strain.

In this new bestseller those hurricanes etc aren't natural disasters at all. They are the creations of global warming activists - eco-maniacs desperate to publicise the case for controlling emissions of carbon dioxide. To make sure you get his point, Crichton adds a 32-page footnote documenting his own conviction that global warming is an unscientific scare.

What about the contrary worldwide consensus of scientists that global warming is a man-made disaster in the making? Crichton's answer: "If it's consensus, it isn't science. If it's science, it isn't consensus." As I suppose in the old consensus that the earth is flat.

Novels written to deliver a political message are generally not very interesting. And, I've read some of Crichton's writing on global warming, and, on this topic, he doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground.

One of the worse novels I ever read. I am surprised I was able to get all of the way through it. I definitely would not recommend it.

Thanks for the warning & welcome to DU. :hi:

and regret it.

Stay away, there is no redeeming value in this book. It's like wandering into Dick Cheney's wet dream.

If he had just left his politics out of things, he would still be a good author in my mind. His first escapist sci-fi books, like "Sphere" and "Jurassic Park" I enjoyed, because they didn't make me think too much. Then he started going on his wacko crusades, with "Rising Sun" talking about a Japanese plot to take over the country, and now "State of Fear" where the environmentalists trying to kill us all. Just like Clancy... I considered him a good author until "Rainbow 6".